Wow! What a busy time it has been! But, I love it and love autumn. We had a cold spell and even a kill frost in the middle of October. Now at the end of October we are experiencing an Indian Summer. It is supposed to get up to 80 degrees today and we put the A/C back on! The leaves have been beautiful this year but sadly they are already almost gone. I guess because of the drought they didn't stick around very long.
So far this year we have had a great time in our activities. Back to school is always hard but this year it seems harder. A lot more is expected in 4th grade and there are a lot of tests, but Jack seems to be hanging in there well. We had a fun visit with my Mom and went to the Preston County Buckwheat Festival. Of course, that was the highlight of September!!! Buckwheat cakes, crafts, parades, show animals, and friends. I loved it. In September, the Mountaineers were also doing great so it was a ton of fun to watch (not so much now :(. As October is winding down, we are getting ready for the holidays. Halloween costumes are all ready and I am thinking about Christmas gifts :).
This time of year is always busy. Back to school, soccer, church activities, and holidays make things crazy at times. I haven't even had the chance to do garden clean up for winter yet. The exciting news for us has been the near completion of the garage this fall. It should be done before winter. I am already parking our car in the little garage...what a luxury!!! No more cleaning off the car of snow or frost, I love it already.
This past Sunday, I did another inspection of the bee hives. One hive has done fairly well with it winter stores. The hive is heavy and there was no sign mites or disease. The other hive is another story!!! While there were many wasps around both hives, this hive had several inside it and they were just sucking away at the uncapped nectar. I saw mites on adult bees but, thankfully, no deformed bees. I also saw a couple of hive beetles. Also, the hive was light compared to other one. Winter stores were low. So, I did the only thing I knew to do at the time. Close both hives up, feed them, put out an emergency tweet to beekeepers about my wasp problem, and call the master beekeepers I know for advice.
Twitter beekeepers suggested a wasp trap, which I quickly made and I am have to say has already been successful. I have caught a few dozen wasps already! My more experienced beekeepers recommended to keep feeding both hives, do a Honey Bee Healthy drench, and keep the wasp traps going along with putting the entrance reducer on the front of the hives. This is because wasps will continue to work until the temperature drops into the low 40s where as bees cluster up in the upper 40s making their hive easy targets for robbers such as wasps.
So entrance reducers on, feeding continues with a fructose mix, traps are out and drench is done. I am also sending up a little prayer for them :). Around November 1st I am going to close them up for winter.
Well, in the next week or so we will be spinning out the honey from my father-in-law's hives. I can't wait to see how much his bees made this year and learn how to do that part of the process.
Happy Fall everyone!!!!
